“I’ve got background music in some of my slides to keep people awake,” he explained.

He listed the dizzying number of ingredients in some modern cosmetics such as facial creams and lipsticks, and explained the purpose of some of the chemical components that go in to such products.

Amongst the most interesting revelations of the evening was the negligible difference between factors 15, 30 and 50 sun screen. Dr. Emsley said that they respectively block 93%, 97% and 98% of UV rays.

“Don’t buy anything expensive over factor 15,” he suggested.

Science ‘can change the world’

After the talk Dr. Emsley told TGS News that he’s “trying to persuade people that chemistry is not the science that people are afraid of.

“People don’t realise just how important chemistry has been in delivering the goods people are getting.

“We’ve got science that can change the world.”

The event’s organiser was the outgoing Director of Science Brainwaves, 25-year-old University of Sheffield PhD researcher Tacita Nye.

On the event she said: “It went really well – we had a fantastic turn out, more than we were thinking.

“Over a hundred people have come to learn about chemistry and the science of beauty. It’s fantastic.”

Sheffield Hallam University hosted a discussion on the Richard O’Dwyer caseyesterday evening. The event was organised by the civil rights pressure group Liberty and was chaired by its Director, Shami Chakrabarti.

Amongst those speaking at the event were Richard’s mother Julia O’Dwyer and Liberty’s Directer of Policy Isabella Sankey.

There was also an unexpected appearance from sympathetic conservative MP David Davis.

‘Destructive’

Mrs. O’Dwyer began comically: “who’d have thought that a student in his bedroom would end up in so much bloomin’ trouble?”

But her pain became obvious as she fought back tears explaining the difficulty of the past few months.

She told the audience that she has had to become a “mini-lawyer” to assist her son.

She described the stress of the situation as “destructive,” saying that it has put a lot of pressure on her relationships and work life.

“The prospect of Richard being in America is terrifying,” she said.

“We’re fighting our own government and it feels like a futile fight.”

‘Grotesque injustice’

Liberty’s Director of Policy Isabella Sankey highlighted that extradition “has its place” for cases such as international terrorism.

But she said that extradition is “a trauma in and of itself” and in order to avoid situations like O’Dwyer’s “there need to be some basic safeguards.”

There was an unexpected appearance from Conservative MP David Davis, who described the current extradition law as “draconian.”

He said that the law between the UK and USA is “completely asymmetric” and called for the public to voice their indignation.

Dr. Kailash Chand OBE spoke at a Labour CLP meeting at Sharrow Community Forum yesterday evening. Dr. Chand founded the online petition ‘Drop the Health Bill’, which currently has 177,590 signatures.

At the meeting he said that the NHS bill is “friendless” and told his audience that they had “lost the battle, but not the argument.”

Trust undermined

Dr. Chand said that the bill could have a destructive effect on the patient-doctor relationship.

He argued that the rationing of NHS resources for commercial gain rather than for clinical reasons could undermine the trust between doctors and their patients.

“There is no evidence that competition works in healthcare,” he said.

He was particularly critical of the Conservatives, saying that their official line on the bill is “nothing more than a smoke screen.”

“The Tories really are good as far as PR is concerned,” he said.

‘Democracy was failing’

After the meeting, Dr. Chand spoke with TGS News about his recent campaigning.

“I started because democracy was failing,” he said. “The government was not listening to the BMA, was not listening to royal colleges, was not listening to GPs and even patient groups.

“They were not even listening to their own party.”

He said that he wouldn’t mind the changes if he thought that privatisation would lead to better public health, but there is no evidence to support this.

“It’s totally ideological,” he said.

‘We will repeal the bill’

Paul Blomfield, Labour MP for Sheffield Central, attended the talk.

He said that Dr. Chand “both outlined the challenges that we face as a result of this bill going through, but also motivated people by pointing out that there is still an opportunity to save the NHS from its worst impact.

“Even if we don’t force the Tories to, when Labour is reelected in 2015 we will repeal the bill,” he said.

A candlelit vigil was held outside Nick Clegg’s Sheffield office this evening in protest against the NHS Bill, which has justcleared it’s final reading in the House of Lords.

The bill will now return to the House of Commons where MP’s will consider any suggested amendments to the legislation.

The vigil lasted 45 minutes from 8:00 pm to 8:45 pm and was attended by approximately 65 people, including NHS workers.

Clegg ‘a disgrace’

At 7:55 pm, there were 16 protesters gathered outside Nick Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam office. They included a lady holding a sign which read ‘Nick Clegg, you are a disgrace to our city. Shame on you for defying the people of Sheffield’.

“Now we have to debate whether he’s the worst MP in Sheffield’s history,” she suggested.

Also present was the Sheffield Central Constituency Labour Party’s Secretary Jim Smith. On the bill, he commented that the coalition “have no mandate.

“They didn’t talk about [the bill] in their manifesto,” he said.

Bill ‘a disaster’

By 8:25 pm there were approximately 65 people present. A few words were said by some of the more outspoken protesters including a Sheffield doctor who said that she is “deeply deeply worried” about the bill.

She went on to say that the bill is “a disaster in terms of the fragmentation of patient care.”

After one minute of silence the crowd disbanded at 8:45 pm. Faith Salih, one of the organisers of the vigil, said the protest showed that “people from all backgrounds care.”

The vigil is one of many which are taking place across Britain tonight. They have been orchestrated by political blogger Dr. Éoin Clarke.

Brothers Paul and Richard Smithson, both Sheffield-based builders, found an undetonated World War II shell in their backyard on Townsend Street on Saturday.

The episode caused a small area of Crookes to go into police lockdown as bomb disposal experts from Nottingham moved in to remove the explosive.

Not just scrap metal

The shell had been unearthed a week before the bomb-scare when Richard was excavating the family yard to lay the foundations for a new building.

Thinking it to be a piece of scrap metal, he picked the bomb up and tossed it aside with other debris.

It wasn’t until Paul, 59, and his son Lee took a closer look at the metal that they realised what Richard had dug up.

Possible explosion

“It was rounded on one end and it seemed to be going into a point shape or a dome shape at the other end,” said Paul.

“We decided that it does look more like a shell.”

When the seriousness of the situation became apparent, Paul rang the police. A firearms expert was sent to investigate.

“They decided to call the bomb disposal squad from Nottingham,” said Paul.

The police asked residents in close proximity to the bomb to remain in their front rooms to avoid a possible explosion as the bomb was removed.

This is the first time in Paul’s career that he has found an undetonated bomb. He reflected: “It’s not so bad at first when you think it’s a piece of scrap metal, until you’ve realised that something tells you it’s a shell.”